Jumper cables are employed to start a motor when the vehicle battery is too weak by connecting a more powerful battery with the weak battery. This may take place in the dark. Moving around in the dark between the two vehicles to connect their batteries, and then to enter the vehicle to start the motor while the cables are in place can be dangerous. If one trips over the cable, the connections may pull loose and cause sparking, burns, and fires.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,123,576 issued Sep. 26, 2000 to James discloses safety jumper cables that ensure correct connections, but do not address the problem of tripping over the cables in the dark.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,969,834 issued Nov. 13, 1990 to Johnson teaches two separate jumper cable segments with LED indicators of correct polarity connection that are first connected to each battery, and then to each other.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,942,859 issued Mar. 9, 1976 to Korodi teaches an extension cord with a male plug at one end and a female plug at the other end. A bulb energized by the cord illuminates a fiber optic in an elongate channel in the cord insulation to light up the cord along its length. In another embodiment, a neon gas in the channel is energized by the voltage in the cord to light up the cord.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,471,540 issued Oct. 29, 2002 to the applicant discloses a jumper cable assembly illuminated along its length by an electroluminescent element.
It would be useful to have a set of jumper cables that would be luminous along its length by light emitting diodes so that people would be less likely to trip over them in the dark that would also indicate correct polarity.